


How to Act

by narwhalscanttalk



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff though, M/M, Masturbation, Multi, Rimming, Sexual Tension, Shameless Smut, Slow Burn, Smut, basically sex stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-02 11:27:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6564373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narwhalscanttalk/pseuds/narwhalscanttalk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fic based off of http://yamayama--kun.tumblr.com/post/142448358424/pls-consider-this-iwaoi-actor-au-where-theyre , and basically a fic where Oikawa goes from flirting to smitten, and Iwa is as dense as his thighs ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Complete Strangers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [day](https://archiveofourown.org/users/day/gifts).



> Okayyyyyy, chapter 1! lets see how this goes ...  
> this should be an introduction to the backstory and a start to our plot (*laughs wickedly)  
> no smut here, I'm afraid! ;)
> 
> Nekomata is smooth, Oikawa is pissed, and Makki is a sly and wicked prankster

The crowd went wild, a mass of shouts and screams echoing through the studio of the largest talk show in Japan, and blurring into a sea of frenzy, as Nekomata Yasufumi hobbled carefully to the host, a man who quite honestly, hadn't worked hard enough for his money, in Nekomata's opinion. 

The old producer was used to showing his blinding closed-eye grin, distracting flashy-looking acquaintances from the frankly nasty thoughts running through the old cat's head. And now, coming out of retirement for a film the whole world seemed to know both nothing and everything about, he'd only have so many opputunities to use his sly facade on TV. He sat down on the squeaky leather, still waving to the blurry view of the audience he had out of his small, almost feline, squinted eyes.

He and the host spoke for some times, making the odd joke and discussung previous carrers, films, companies, etc., until finally, Nekomata sensed he was about to get the question the young host's face had seemed itching to ask since the beginning.

"So, Nekomata-san, I'm sure you've heard the rumours."

Nekomata smiled, seemingly oblivious, "What rumours?"

The host's mouth twitched slightly at the corner, creasing the skin on his plump, rosy cheek. "The newest work! The film of the year! Surely you've heard! It's being spoken of in countries all over the world! Rumour also has it that you're involved."

"Involved in what, young man?" Nekomata pouted innocently.

"The film that will bring some of the greatest actors, writers, directors, producers and crews of their genres together, of course! The film that will finally unite the actors Oikawa Tooru and Iwaizumi Hajime  
*

"'Oikawa Tooru, 26 years old, and one of many stars from Miyagi, became known for his numerous roles playing protagonists in many romantic comedies, comedy TV shows, several sci-fi works and even starring in a few Marvel films. He is known for working extremely well with his co-stars and all members of the team, as well as his bubbly personality and strikingly good looks that attract the attention of both men and women alike, creating one of the largest fanbases of any star in the acting profession. His favourite snack is reportedly milk bread, and his favourite saying is 'If you're going to hit it, hit it until it breaks.', a saying well-worthy of the hard-working, multi-award winner'... blah blah blah, and some crappy paragraphs about your fashion styles and most recent haircut. Why are you showing me this, Oikawa? You're basically in every magazine these days." Hanamaki looked up from the issue of Vogue containing an article of Oikawa Tooru, as usual, at the latest fashion show.

"Not that, Makki~!!" Oikawa moaned, drooping his broad shoulders low on his rather tall frame. "Below, right at the end!"

Hanamaki Takahiro, Oikawa's manager, (regrettably still to this day, he would add), sighed, and flipped open the magazine once more.  
"Another actor of note is Iwaizumi Hajime, the best of his time in the Action and Thriller genres. His style and apparent brooding, serious and rugged personality, though blaringly contrasting to Oikawa's, may finally prove to be a match for the "Great King" . Or could the two even amplify each other's talents? Or is it possible that the one voted Sexiest Man on Earth, 2015 could fall head over heels for Irihata Nobuteru's famous lady-killer, Oikawa Tooru? Only time will tell, as rumours say that the two will soon star together in an Action Romance that...will...." Hanamaki's voice trailed off suddenly, strictly avoiding his client's piercing gaze. He didn't have to look to tell that it was venomous.

The silence in Hanamaki's office was basically screaming "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME" as he sat one leg over the other in his black, leather office chair.

"So?" Oikawa practically spat as he rested his Starbucks caramel frappucino coffee cup on the glass desk.

Hanamaki decided to elongate the silence as much as possible, sipped some of his Naked smoothie drink, and leaned back in his chair, while Oikawa's whole head was flickering from the magazine to his manager over and over again. Hanamaki threw his head back and whistled, spinning in his chair as he did so. And as soon as he heard Oikawa's small growl that he unconsciously made right before he'd begin to shout, Hanamaki said, very enthusiastically,

"Yes! You look excellent in that picture!"

It was like teasing a rabid animal after keeping it locked in a cage.

"How on EARTH did I not hear about this?!! This film must be massive!! And no one has told me ANYTHING?!!!"

Hanamaki leaned up in his chair and rolled further towards his desk, casually resuming his scrolling on his Mac.  
"Well it did help that I temporarily blocked any account that could possibly inform you of this film's entire existence and also personally threatened each and every employee in this company to ensure you wouldn't find out, but..."

Hanamaki did not get to finish his sentence.

However,

He hadn't really expected to.

"WHEN EXACTLY WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME?!! THE DAY BEFORE WE STARTED SHOOTING? OR MAYBE ON THE NIGHT OF THE PREMIERE?!"

"Honestly Oikawa, telling you on the night of the premiere makes absolutely no logical sense at all."

The next minute or so was just a load of incomprehensible screaming.

After that, Oikawa stood pink-faced, and wide-eyed in front of Hanamaki's desk, strewn with desk toys, food containers, picture frames and the odd actual work related file. But Oikawa's face was now questioning and curious, and even betraying the slightest view of hurt.

"This is a really big deal for me. For us! For the whole company. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Hanamaki didn't smile or show much hint of emotion at all. He didn't want to give this noisy child any opportunity to get unnecessarily emotional.... again.

"No contracts have even been signed yet, and it's not like any teams have been put together. Iwaizumi-san hasn't been told either. It's just everywhere because people love the both of you a FUCK tonne, and the idea of the two of you in the same film seems revolutionary. Every film gets rumours spread before confirmation, it's just because of your reputations. Stop overreacting."

Oikawa's ears tinged pink, and turned away, before mumbling something about telling him as soon as there were any new developments.  
Hanamaki smiled angelically, with the few rays of sun behind him lighting up his almost bubblegum-pink coloured hair, and agreed, gesturing kindly to the door for Oikawa to cool down somewhere nice. After which he went back to scrolling on Urban Outfitters.

Oikawa was practically out the door before Hanamaki lifted his head, face blank, and said,

"By the way, we've actually got a film in motion that you're being offered a lead role for."

Oikawa's gaze was first puzzled, and then rather delighted, as he took a few steps back into the office with a rare pure and innocent smile on his face.

"Really?"

"Yup, a huge action romance starring you and Iwaizumi Hajime. You're the only person left that needs to sign any papers. Haven't you heard the rumours?"

"I ... am going to MURDER YOU, HANAMAKI TAKAHIRO!!!!!"

*

//later that night, another film company office building, centre of Tokyo...

Matsukawa stretched in his chair, feeling his knees click under his skinny suit trousers and his shoulders pop in his tight mint green shirt. As he shut down his computer and began to pack up his things, he thought about how unsuited his body was to being bound to a desk all day. He thought he might be missing the early days of his film career, starting off as an assistant to any higher ups pretty much everywhere within the company that felt like pushing a young, gangly, skinny errand boy around. When he saw his digital clock flash 03:17, he knew for sure he was missing the simple life.

Draping his Hugo Boss blazer over his now rather toned shoulder and back, Matsukawa Issei grabbed his slim black briefcase and walked out of his office, locking the glass door behind him, flicking his black, short wavy hair away from his eyes and then sighed. This new film might fatten up their paychecks, but he knew it wasn't going to come easily.

His footsteps began to echo as he reached the reception for the 9th floor, and light from the moon streamed in through the glass wall that spanned the entrance way like a floodlight, the white, tiled floor reflecting the light onto each column, filling the room with a white glow. Matsukawa almost missed it, but as he walked past, he saw the glow reflected onto tanned skin near the edge of the glass panels, along with a wide, handsome face, big shoulders, a popped open top button, and a pissed off expression that almost radiated negativity.

Matsukawa glanced towards the elevator, back to the glowing figure staring at the window, and sighed once more.

"You'll hurt your eyes, concentrating so hard with that scowl on your face in the dark." He smiled.

Iwaizumi Hajime turned his head rather quickly. They were both obviously shocked that anyone else was still at the office so late, but kept their expressions cool, and unnecessarily professional.

"Hey, Issei. Sorry, I must have just lost track of time." He said, the scowl barely leaving his face.

Matsukawa could tell there was something bugging the actor before him by the use of his given name, but if he wasn't sharing right away, then he thought he wouldn't push him unjustly. The two knew each other inside and out, after being partners for so many years, but yet they usually tiptoed around each other thoughts and feelings, rather than sharing them right away. It was as if there were something invisible between them and their friendship, or rather perhaps, something missing.

"You are the actor in this place, Iwaizumi, you know that right?" Matsukawa smirked anyway. "I don't think you actually have any obligation to even come in outside of filming time."

Iwaizumi showed the tiniest hint of a smile, so gentle on his face, but only for the smallest fraction of a second. As suddenly as it cam, it disappeared, and he tilted his head down, burying his hands deep in his pockets and hunching up his shoulders.

"This film... I'm not sure I... I mean, I don't know if..." He mumbled low and incoherently.

Mattsun looked stunned at this reveal of emotion from his colleague, but quickly switched straight back to managing mode. Iwaizumi needed someone right now.

"Iwaizumi," He stepped across the open space between them until he was close enough to hear Iwaizumi's irregular breathing. "You are going to do amazing in this film. Yes, it'll be new to us and yes, it might initially be difficult to change your style, but this is an amazing opportunity, and it could really fast track your career to great places. You are an amazing actor, Iwaizumi." Matsukawa clapped his hand onto Iwaizumi's shoulder hard, "Really."

He looked up determinedly. Matsukawa could tell he felt better.

They made their way to the elevator, ready to leave in peace for the last time before their schedules would become so busy, their workday would practically never end, and sleeping would be like a mere pit stop. Iwaizumi suddenly looked up in thoughtfulness, and said,

"I wonder what this actor I'll be working with is like."

Matsukawa glanced down his shoulder at Iwaizumi's short, jaggedly spiked hair, a thick, shaped eyebrow raised.

"Oh pretty boy Tooru? All I know is he's dead popular, and can't keep his paws off his co-stars most of the time. I don't know how he made it this far."

Iwaizumi nodded, face void of emotion.

"Well I guess his paws will have to wait until his next job. What an odd guy, but he sounds very intriguing. I'm kinda looking forward to meeting him, this Oikawa Tooru."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayy! I feel like this one might be kinda short...? but I'm not really sure on a wordcount for future reference... or chapters for that matter... eheh
> 
> But more character development to come! Oikawa was just a bit too angry to show some real personality here haha ;) But we got a glimpse of our hunky Iwa too ! So nervous about doing well in his new film~
> 
> I'll not be too long with the next one, I hope, but follow me on tumblr and twitter at narwhalscanttalk if you want to message me or anything, and also follow http://yamayama--kun.tumblr.com/ , whom I got this au from :)
> 
> thanks for reading :)


	2. Warm Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Iwaizumi scoffed and began walking back to the circle of directors, department heads, managers and actors, but he still felt Oikawa's gaze fixed impenetrably on him as he went. But Hajime didn't ignore it this time, and when he focused on the feeling itself, he didn't think it felt cold or threatening at all.
> 
> In fact, Hajime felt slightly warm."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fateful meeting! It's finally here! *faints dramtically

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

-Ugh, not again.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Oikawa Tooru lifted his eyes just above the fortress of pillows that encircled him to glare at his phone; the thin, white and frankly rude object vibrating incessantly on his bedside table.

He reached out rather groggily, arm wavering and taking more than one try to successful reach it's target, before wrapping his long fingers around the smooth surface of the IPhone.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. Blip.

Seeing the clock read 06:02, Tooru pushed himself up on his elbows, and rubbed at his groggy eyes. -First day of filming, he thought to himself.  
After a few seconds of despair at the early rise, he dragged his long, toned legs out of the warm confines of his bed and into the cold air of the morning in his apartment.  
But as soon as his feet touched the heated, wooden-panel floors, Oikawa went straight into his morning routine, and ceased to consider much else.  
Wash face. Brush teeth. Shower. Get dressed. Check messages. Change mind on outfit. New outfit. Do hair. Moisturise. Cologne. Grab keys. Grab bag.

Standing at his door. Tooru looked back at his apartment, blank faced.

It was thoroughly decorated, based equally on both comfort and style; sofa strewn with blankets and Star Wars cushions, large Samsung TV surrounded by masses of DVDs, boxsets, documentaries and a separate compartment barely touched for his own works that got sent to him. The living space was the biggest, and it led to a sparkling white, humongous kitchen that he usually used to heat up instant ramen, as well as a rarely used office room, both a large bathroom with a silver-footed bath, and one with an equally exquisite shower En Suite to Tooru's bedroom, containing a Queen sized bed, walk in wardrobe and a tattered desk where he used his laptop mostly, littered with memorabilia from his high school days; team pictures, trophies, film posters from his old bedroom, etc. It was his favourite place to sit.

Of course, Tooru always felt grateful and even amazed at what his life had become; living in such grandeur, earning the money that he did, and knowing such important people because of it. Yet despite how easily he seemed to have accustomed to this lifestyle and how easily everyone around accepted him, The Great King never felt he really belonged. Most of his partners complained about his feelings, and it was true that they were probably the reason that those partners never lasted. If he was at an event, he wouldn't skip out on greeting and conversing with a single person present, thus leaving said partner rather alone, or in the care of someone else. If the partner wanted to go out, Tooru might not want to go, feeling anxious about how people might treat him after a release of whatever new rumour the press had made up about him then, or just simply feeling not up to the task of being around people he didn't like.

Especially Ushiwaka-chan.

Ushijima Wakatoshi, rated number 1 best actor of his time, winning the most awards of almost any actor known throughout Japan, and Oikawa Tooru's worst enemy. Countless times had his company beat Oikawa's own, and never did he let people forget it, whether he meant to or not. Yet despite his own achievements and success, he'd never stopped trying to convince Oikawa to join him. 

Tooru slammed his door closed with a nasty scowl on his face. 

Just upon leaving his modern apartment complex, his phone began to vibrate in his jean pockets. He had kept his clothes semi-casual, seeing as he was going to be changed and made up by the crew at the set.

The phone screen read 'Master', and displayed a rather erotic picture of an attractive male with sort of pale skin and light brown, wavy hair, tied up in some sort of contraption used for bondage. -I wonder who this could be, Tooru thought to himself sarcastically, and answered.

"Yes, Master?"

"'Sup, Oikawa?" Tooru could practically hear Hanamaki's smirk through the phone.

"Is that person supposed to be me on this photo?" Oikawa smiled, because despite his manager's constant, irritating antics and pranks, they actually caught him off-guard every once in a while, and he'd be lying if he said that they weren't actually pretty funny.

"Yeah, I think it to be a rather personal touch, don't you?"

"Hmm." Tooru was struggling to keep in his laugh as he walked to the train station. Luckily for him, it was quite early in the morning for any raging fans to bombard him in public like they sometimes did, so Tooru merely put on a pair of mint green sunglasses, and a strategically placed snapback over his chetnut tufts on his head. This way, he looked like a regular guy with extremely good fashion sense.

"Yes, I was almost moved to tears. Care to tell me how you keep managing to get into my phone despite the fact that I end up changing my password fortnightly because of you?"  
Tooru asked, voice hinting a subtle threatening tone, yet still playful.

"I'm your manager, it's basically in my job description to know all your secrets and browse through your personal business."

"You know what, I'm pretty sure that's 'basically' a lie. What's up anyway, why did you call?"

There was a slight hesitation from Hanamaki, but Oikawa suspected that it was merely a case of forgetting the purpose of the call due to the introductory banter.

"Just checking you made it to the station okay. Have you got on the train yet?"

Oikawa glanced up at the numerous train time boards in search of nearest train.

"Only a couple of minutes. What am I doing, meeting you at the set?"

Once again, there was a hesitation from Makki, but Tooru sensed something different, in the way that he heard him take a sharp breath, like he was keeping something in.

"What is it?" He asked, within a response gap of about 1.2 seconds.

Hanamaki sighed, and Tooru could picture him leaning against a wall, eyes shut as if he was in pain.

"Well, the management team is mostly from Iwaizumi-san's company, and they've asked Nekomata-san if I could..."

"Could what, Makki?"

"Sit this one out."

Tooru was silent while he played this through in his mind, but despite his sharp thinking and naturally perceptive mind, his response still came out as a stuttering, "W-what??!"

Hanamaki was always there. There was no question. Every filming. Every meeting. Every interview. Every premiere. Even for when he was practicing his stupid lines. Why was he being taken away? 

"You've really got to focus on getting used to the new crew, Oikawa, it'll be easier this way. I'd just get in the way. You need to be comfortable around them, and this is a good start."

Every bone, muscle and fibre of Tooru's being wanted to scream and protest into the phone, but he knew deep down that Hanamaki wouldn't have it.

"It's not forever, you know. This is just the first day. You'll have a blast, Tooru, I promise."

Tooru felt something build up in his throat and prickle behind his eyes.

"...Fine."

"Good!" Oikawa could hear the beaming smile. "Catch up with you later, Manabu-san's got me running errands today. Ta ta, sweet pea."

The call disconnected, and the train began pulling in to the station. The platform was sparse, spare a few early rising businessmen in dull suits and expensive looking watches and briefcases. 

He had planned on picking up some breakfast on the way, but somehow, he didn't feel too hungry anymore. The incognito superstar merely scowled at the gum spattered ground instead.

As he stepped on to the train, Tooru felt himself not fitting in once again.

 

*

 

Hajime was sitting in a large, cushioned spinning chair opposite a fairly wide make-up mirror, blaringly white light bulbs viciously throwing light at him, so he sat there with his eyes closed, waiting for the 7:30 meeting on set. He would have definitely been welcomed in any other comfier seat he wanted, but seeing as it was so early, not yet seven o'clock, the dressing/prep rooms were entirely empty. It was quiet, and Hajime enjoyed it very much.

God, it was so early.

Good thing he lived so close by.

A rustle in the hanging red drapes to his right made Hajime peek through one eye, only to see a group of apprentices dragging make up trolleys and clothes racks into the wide space where Hajime had been alone, which also silenced the youths into non-stop blinks and wide-mouthed gazes. He chuckled quietly to himself, yet the earthy, low rumble in his tanned throat managed to reach the group standing a few dozen metres away. The simultaneously blushed. Hajime stood, and upon leaving through the opposing drapes, he turned with a sincere smile,

"Good luck for today."

He had turned back well before he heard the blond boy stammer and shout, "Y-You too I-Iwaizumi-san!!!", followed buy several"Baka!"s and good natured laughs.

Spotting his manager, Hajime walked with his hands buried in his suit trousers' pockets, which made him unconsciously show off his bulging thigh muscles contained within the black material.

"Oi, Matsukawa. Any updates?"

Matsukawa's long, rather lithe frame, tilted sort of elegantly at the mention of his name. The image, however, was slightly spoiled by the enormous packet of Doritos he had resting in his hand against his chest while he casually stuffed as many into his mouth as he could.

"It-sch foine," He garbled, smirking, "We're about twenty minutsch til the meeting, and we've only got to wait for Irihata-shan, the head camera director from Oikawa'shh company, and of corsh, the one and the only magnifishent Great King himshelf." 

Hajime looked disapprovingly at his manager, as if asking himself, "How could I ever be proud of this idiot?" , and then glanced sideways as he heard a thundering crash a few metres away, from the main entrance.

A tall, attractive, spiky haired man stood in an action pose between the swinging doors. Hajime, and what he was sure was every single person who had witnessed this crazy entrance, had barely enough time to process the event before the flash of a well-built owl man came flying through the air to the double doors, arms stretched out wide.

"KUUUURRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"BOOOOKUUTOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Oh right, Bokuto. Hajime had met him a few days before filming for his sizing appointment. He was the owl-haired head of the Costume Department.

All he knew about this "Kuroo", was that he was one of a few workers coming from his co-star's company, including Bokuto Koutarou. If he remembered correctly, he was head of camera direction. Hajime was a little more surprised when Bokuto cupped his friend's cheek, threaded his fingers through his dark hair and kissed him passionately on the lips.

-Well, Hajime thought, I shouldn't be too surprised. 

There seemed to be an awfully large percentage of non-heterosexuals in their companies.

 

But as the two man-children hugged and sobbed dramatically before him, Hajime saw two figures reach the entrance behind them. It wasn't hard to recognise Irihata-san, but next to him, standing tall, was a face Hajime had yet to meet.

"Honestly you two, you saw each other last night. It's too early for this." the new acquaintance said, a whiny voice matching his annoyingly attractive tired gaze.

Irihata-san laughed along with the tall male, and somehow eased the tension that had built up and lingered during the past 30 seconds alone; a collective deep breath being released.

"All right!" Mizoguchi-san clapped, "Now that everyone's arrived, we can start the meeting early. You've got about five minutes to get ready, everyone! Refreshments are by the directors' seats."

Everyone apparently had urgent matters to finish up with, because Hajime was one of about ten people left over. Mizoguchi spoke with Irihata about when Nekomata-san and Ukai-san would help direct, some assistants stood chatting near the refreshments, Bokuto and his spiky haired friend were looking around and speaking enthusiastically, and the stranger stood about half a metre from Kuroo, tapping at his phone. It took Iwaizumi a little longer than he was proud of to realise, but he internally blamed it on the early time of day.

It was his co-star.

This was Oikawa Tooru.

It was lucky that the actor was busy on his flashy white IPhone, because Hajime stared at him for an embarrassingly long time. 

He stood just a few centimetres or so shorter than his friend, Kuroo, but it was impressive nonetheless. His height seemed exaggerated by his slim frame, yet Hajime could definitely tell he was more than just skin and bones with the way he held his shoulders back, like he was daring anyone to call themselves stronger. 

Despite this, Oikawa had features that seemed to soften said effect, though Hajime's straightforward mind couldn't comprehend why he'd want to do such a thing. He had chocolatey eyes framed by long, sweeping eyelashes that cast small, light shadows onto his straight nose. He seemed to be biting his bottom lip as he stared, focused on his phone, and Hajime unintentionally noticed the pink curve of each lip, and how they almost shone when the light reached them. His chestnut brown hair bounced in waves every time his head tilted, which also revealed a long expanse of smooth neck from his tartan scarf, pale blue coat and grey sweatshirt. How he wasn't boiling hot, Hajime couldn't tell.

He also wore a pair of skinny jeans; a clothing item that Hajime sadly never felt suited him right, and a tattered pair of white and mint green Nike hi-tops. He looked so effortlessly casual, it was infuriating. Unfortunately, Hajime didn't have time to get rid of his scowl before Oikawa looked up and noticed it.

It took one blink from the guy, and Hajime felt a cold feeling sweep through him, like a second was all this man needed to learn all of Hajime's secrets, to know him inside and out. But Hajime made sure his expression never faltered. He'd rather jump into a bush of thorns than show weakness to his new acquaintance before him.

Oikawa, however, gleamed. He rushed whatever he had been typing, touched Kuroo on the shoulder, presumably wishing each other luck or something, and bounded over to Hajime very lightly, another clear example of how well he held himself. But his face, smooth-skinned and symmetrical as it was, showed an expression of bad intention behind his currently lidded eyes.

"I love the formal-casual combo look you've got going on there," he noted with a wink, "You're really pulling it off."

Hajime felt like he was being sexually assaulted.

"I love how you just notice me for my body." Hajime retorted.

Oikawa seemed stunned, mouth agape, as if he had been winded with Hajime's mere reaction to his ridiculous joke of a flirtatious comment. But after his initial shock, he actually began to laugh. His eyes closed as his grin spread wide across his face, which he immediately covered with the long, oddly rough looking fingers of his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hajime." he smiled.

Hajime winced at the full frontal use of his first name, and of course, Oikawa picked it up quicker than he could voice it.

"Ah, sorry, old habit of mine," He began, rubbing the back of his neck. "Would you prefer Iwaizumi?"

Hajime nodded, face still rather stern and calculating, but Oikawa's face had already began to twist in thought; eyebrows crossed, lips pouted and finger at his chin.

"It is awfully long though, quite a lot to get your mouth around..." Oikawa's face suddenly stopped in time, and looked at Hajime like a scared animal expecting some sort of attack, like he'd just said the most offensive or inappropriate thing. Hajime didn't really understand, but upon seeing no reaction, Oikawa relaxed, and even made the tiniest of giggles to himself. 

Bastard.

"Aaaanyway~..." he continued, "Let's think of something easier. Iwai... waizu..zumi..." Oikawa mumbled a bit before he snapped his fingers with a look of pure joy.

"Iwa!! How do you like it, huh?"

"We should probably head over," Hajime said, ignoring the comment. "People are making their way back and I can see Mizoguchi-san getting fidgety over there."

"Aww, Iwa-chan! How will you get the girls to like you if you can't even have a normal conversation! You poor soul..."

Iwa-chan?

Iwaizumi scoffed and began walking back to the circle of directors, department heads, managers and actors, but he still felt Oikawa's gaze fixed impenetrably on him as he went. But Hajime didn't ignore it this time, and when he focused on the feeling itself, he didn't think it felt cold or threatening at all.

In fact, Hajime felt slightly warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Et voila!  
> Chapter two done and dusted! I'm going to try to promise one chapter every few days, I won't let you guys down!!
> 
> I really hope everyone is enjoying it so far, thank you for reading! 
> 
> -narwhals


	3. God, he's hot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oikawa would have argued back, but he was rather busy trying to control the blush spreading across his face and neck like wildfire, biting his lip so hard he thought it might bleed."
> 
> In other words, WHEN DID IWA-CHAN GET SO BEAUTIFUL??!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I may have rushed this trying to get it done, so I am so sorry if it's not up to scratch!
> 
> Enjoy!

"Can I get a glass of water?" Oikawa called from his seat.

After a couple of hours of non-stop filming, Tooru was feeling a bit tense and worked up. This had unfortunately translated into feeling so hot and bothered, the hairs at the edge of his fringe had begun to frizz. It wasn't hard or new for him, filming without many breaks. He was an experienced actor by this point, and practice hadn't failed to strengthen his tenacity and willpower. But he was discreetly rather ashamed to admit he hadn't expected to start so full on from day one.

A younger guy with dark, curtained hair and unfazed eyes handed him an Evian bottle without so much as a "Here you go," and soon turned to leave. His name tag had read Kunimi, yet also Head Marketing Assistant, so Oikawa felt unsure at what he was doing here, let alone fetching water for him. He passed it off as a nice favour, and called a cheery "Thank you!" to the stranger. Going straight into the filming of one of his introduction scenes had left him very little time to meet most of the crew. It didn't worry him though. He looked around for Iwaizumi, before remembering that he may not have been done with his own scene in the studio room a few doors down the corridor.

"Hey, nerd!" Came a low voice behind him. He whipped his head around to find none other than Kuroo Testurou, arm slung around a hunched Kenma, tapping away at his 3DS. Tooru glared at him menacingly.

"That nickname, if to be used at all, is to be used strictly within the confines of either of our apartment, with an audience limit of you, Ken-chan, Koutarou, Keiji, Makki, or Hitoka-chan. Is that clear?!" he hissed.

"Yeah, yeah," He chuckled, "Let's go grab a coffee, young padawan. Kenma wants some fresh air. And stop calling him Ken-chan, you sound like a pervert."

Tooru gasped in mock horror, a clasped his hand over his heart. Kenma glanced up from under his fake glasses to witness the spectacle unfold, before Kuroo began to lead him to the doors, ignoring a disgusted looking Tooru near a circle of film and costume crew.

"I AM A JEDI MASTER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" He shouted.

 

*

 

Oikawa got stared at all the way down the street for still being in his officer's costume from his last scene, but he was sure that Bokuto and Akaashi wouldn't mind. It wasn't bad being best friends with the heads of costume and makeup.

The stares and whispers continued as the three entered the nearest Starbucks, but Tooru was loving the spotlight, so Kuroo left his two best friends, one of them his boyfriend, at Kenma's favourite table at the back of the cafe; furthest away from the windows, the toilets, and the counter, and left to order their drinks. Oikawa knew he had their favourite drinks memorised after their many years of friendship.

When the tall, undeniably attractive male had returned, several stares lingering from his journey to the table, the three fell easily into casual conversation; how their first few hours had been, how they were already starving for their lunch break, how irritating it was that they only had twenty minutes, etc. Kenma had even put his console back into his light brown, leather satchel.

"I haven't seen Takahiro around yet," he said to Oikawa, eyes hinting at slight concern in his words, "When's he arriving?"

Oikawa pouted, and crossed his arms in the velvety green armchair he was slumped in.

"Apparently, Irihata-san feels I would be less distracted without him here."

Kuroo and Kenma shared a look. Oikawa was always irritated in the way they communicated without words sometimes. They made it very difficult for him to read them.

"Are you feeling okay about it?" Kuroo asked, leaning slightly forward.

Oikawa blinked at the two of them, and began smiling at the way they looked so pitiful and saddened by his circumstances.

"Guys, it's fine! It's Makki working at the office, not my other half living on the other side of the world. Chill." He assured them. The pair seemed to relax a bit, But Tooru saw how it looked hesitant and forced. He refused to elaborate on Makki any further though, so he decided to change the topic.

"How're Bokuto and Akaashi? Are you guys working out okay?" He asked happily.

This seemed to make the two cheer up, as Kenma blushed ever so slightly, and Kuroo's face lit up in the most fantastic of grins.

"Yeah! I think we were all expecting this polyamory thing to be way more difficult, but we're just taking it slow, and it's not really much different from before, in terms of hanging out all the time. The only thing that's different is the sex of course but let me tell you-"

Kuroo's speech became very muffled suddenly, due to Kenma's small, shaking hand shooting up to cover his mouth as his eyes darted around the room frantically. Oikawa and Kuroo both laughed at their younger friend's actions, but decided to respect his privacy. In his presence at least.

"How're you getting along with Iwaizumi?" He asked, taking a lick off his enormously high tower of chocolate and caramel drizzled whipped cream.

"I only just met him at the meeting earlier this morning. We separated straight after that to shoot our individual scenes, which kinda sucks. I wanted to get a better idea of his style before we started acting together, but from what I can tell he's the handsome, brooding, manly type. Shouldn't be too hard to work with" Oikawa replied with a wink.

Kenma smiled, and remarked "Hands off, Tooru. I thought you were finally going to act professionally with your co stars? Remember how Kageyama went? You swore that was the end after you messed that up."

As Oikawa wailed at the damage to his ego, he saw Kuroo smirk at him after his partner's malicious comment.

"It's true. All that poor kid wanted was to get better, and by gods, did he adore you." he marveled.

Tooru grimaced at the reminder of Tobio. He was in the same company as he was, and relatively new to acting. After sharing a few lead roles together, the two briefly began an odd relationship that unfortunately turned rather vicious and spiteful toward it's end, though only, of course, in the best of ways. It aggravated the Great King to say it, but the kid's natural talent was immense, and though Oikawa never liked being petty, it would eat away at him so much, he used to be very unfair to his kouhai. They'd ended it together, and agreed that they weren't a good match. It was a lot more peaceful than Tooru thought anyone was expecting, but Tobio had really pulled through. That talented, skilled, determined, hot son of a bitch.

"Oh please, he was just a good lay," Tooru lied, smirking while sipping the creamy foam off the top of his double-shot, soya chai latte. "And I don't appreciate your tone here, guys."

After seeing the time, the trio decided it was time to head back, and set out into the chilling breeze. Because the coffee shop was so close, none of them had brought a jacket, and were really regretting it now.

Upon returning to the studio, Kuroo and Kenma left Tooru with pleasant goodbyes, good lucks, and promises to update each other as soon as possible. He himself would be filming again, but unsure of what scene was up next, Tooru looked around for someone to ask. His eyes landed on long legs, and a fitted shirt covering a large expanse of back standing alone, and scrolling on his Samsung Galaxy S6 edge. Oikawa liked to notice these things.

He cleared his throat a little, took a deep breath, and walked forward with his most charming smile. He tapped the man on the shoulder with a polite "Excuse me?", and Tooru was rather surprised to see a very handsome and well kept face look down to him. It was thin and angular, with high cheekbones and a straight nose that led up to two rather large, but perfectly proportioned eyebrows. Oikawa couldn't hep thinking that he was pulling off the look of a casually smart businessman extraordinarily well.

"Oikawa Tooru." The man said, in a faintly raspy voice.

"Yes, sorry for interrupting you, but I'm trying to find someone who might know what our next scene is. Nice to meet you, though!" Oikawa said sweetly, "What's your name?"

"Matsukawa Issei, pleasure to be working with you. I'm Iwaizumi Hajime's manager." Matsukawa offered his hand, and Oikawa shook it firmly, though hiding a sense of distrust. 

Iwaizumi's manager was here, so why couldn't Makki be?

"The pleasure's all mine, thank you for the opportunity."

"I believe the two of you will be working together for the next scene. I think its somewhere around halfway through. I've never been good at the practical side of Iwaizumi's job, so I guess I'm not too good with details, sorry about that." Matsukawa offered, rubbung the back of his neck nervously, but Tooru sensed it was out of politeness more than anything. But Tooru was more surprised that he and Iwaizumi would be working together in... Oikawa glanced at his bronze watch... seven minutes!

"That's fine! More than fine, thank you very much Matsukawa-san." Oikawa said with a little bow. This wasn't really the kind of person Oikawa wanted to assert any kind of authority over, seeing as he wanted to get on as well as possible with his co-star.

When Oikawa had met Iwaizumi earlier that morning, he'd been rather surprised at how much more attractive he was in person. He'd had his black, spiky hair mussed up, yet surprisingly well kept, and the colour of his hair matched the intense darkness of his eyes that had been staring at him from across the room. Even at that distance, Tooru could see the actor's thighs attempting to stretch as much of his straight black trouser material as possible, and his enormous shoulders, trapped in the confines of his crisp, white shirt were almost mouth-watering. With the top two buttons undone, it wasn't hard nor unpleasant to imagine how the wide expanse of deeply tanned skin would look bare, or with the contrast of Tooru's own pale skin against him. 

Tooru took a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to go any further than that.

"All right, everyone gather round!" Came Kuroo's voice.

Their newest producer was standing near his seat near the cameras, a group of directors, artists, cameramen, actors and managers encircling him in a semi-circle. Oikawa and  
Matsukawa smiled at eachother, and made their way over together.

Kuroo, in his simple outfit of black jeans and a cardigan, leaned against a pillar and watched everyone group around him with a devilish smile and scheming eyes under his dark curtain of bedhead hair.

"Alright," he called out, loudly and clearly, basking in the attention he had on him,"Seeing as it's only us here today, we're just gonna do one of the scenes right before the final fight scene where our two protagonists are alone in a tent at their base camp, and then we can all go home. I know, I know, keep in the excitement, it's been a long day."

Nekomata bustled through the group, a good two or three heads shorter than everyone else, and stood calmly by Kuroo's side. Everyone was silent, waiting for him to talk, and the old geezer had this smile on his face like he was purposefully making that happen, and was awfully proud of himself for it. Oikawa smiled. He loved his company.

The director cleared his throat, and looked over the gathering, each and every person being regarded as equal and essential parts of the project. You could feel their spirits being lifted with just a look from the old man.

"We've worked very hard on getting this project off the ground," He said fiercley. "Let's work as a team, keep our spirits up, and finish our first day of filming well."

"Keep the energy flowing." Kuroo added.

It didn't matter that this speech was new to Irihata-san's company workers, because as Tooru looked at them, they looked just as pumped and inspired as the rest. Part of that feeling was shocked out of place when the corridor doors slammed open.

A group of about six people rushed in, Iwaizumi at the lead, and Oikawa was ashamed to say that his mouth physically dropped. He came in with only his military boots and cargo trousers on, and the tattered remains of whatever shirt may have been there billowed around his front as he ran. He was covered in dirt, and a slight sheen of sweat was glistening on his forehead and his chest, accentuating the curve of each muscle that dipped down further and further to the band of his trousers. The dark trail of hair leading below it taunted Tooru to the point of agony.

Damn, he was fine.

"Sorry," he called out, voice wearing thin out of breathlessness, "We overran a bit, Yachi had a bit of a panic about the green screen, but she's fine now. We apologise." He bowed once he had reached the group, whom he failed to notice all had their jaws dropped. Even Kuroo stammered a bit before managing a simple "That's okay." before taking the list of instructions from Nekomata and barking out the orders, while the director himself was busy picking the jammiest biscuits at the refreshment table.

Oikawa was standing there watching everyone rush about when he felt a tap at his shoulder.

"Come on, pretty boy, lets get to the dressing rooms." Matsukawa smirked at him.

Oikawa smiled, and walked right in the middle of Matsukawa and Iwaizumi, who was busy trying to wipe his face of all the fake dirt, and failing spectacularly.

"How were your scenes? Looks like they were kinda different to mine." Oikawa said, motioning to his pristine officer's uniform.

Iwaizumi smiled at him, for what must have been the first time, and Oikawa felt something catch in his throat as he stared at each caramel lip stretch across his pearly, straight teeth.

"Yeah, a couple of my solo shots on the battlefield." He said, and paused a little before looking forwards again, and with a voice of complete sincerity he said, "I'm sure they weren't as good as yours though."

Oikawa would have argued back, but he was rather busy trying to control the blush spreading across his face and neck like wildfire, biting his lip so hard he thought it might bleed.

Thankfully they'd just reached the changing rooms, so Oikawa waved Iwaizumi and Matsukawa off to follow Bokuto, leaving him to fall into Akaashi's arms very suddenly as soon as the were out of sight. Akaashi caught him very faithfully.

"Oikawa-san, what are you doing?" He asked very politely.

"Oh my god Akaashi, I've done it again." Oikawa whined.

*

 

"Hey, Oikawa, you've been in a lot more tabloids recently. You and Iwaizumi both." Hanamaki called. "Listen to this; "Will Iwaizumi be The Great King's next victim?" That's quite a reputation you've got."

Oikawa leaned back from opening instant ramen packets in the kitchen to glance at Takahiro spread out horizontally on the sofa. He liked to make himself as comfortable as possible at Oikawa's, not really expecting any reaction, but making himself smile at the thought of one.

"Really? After just one day of filming? They're more eager than usual. Besides, I never really take notice." He lied.

Hanamaki's silence showed he was smirking, but he could tell that Oikawa was ignoring it, and after hearing him pour hot water into each of the plastic cups and grabbing some chopsticks, Hanamaki watched him stride into the living room area rather majestically. Takahiro had always noticed how Tooru liked to carefully swerve away from confronting his lies in unimportant and friendly times such as these.

He handed Hanamaki his food, tapped at his feet for him to move, and placed himself delicately on the right. 

"Not that I'm complaining," Hanamaki suddenly blurted, and he saw Oikawa glance at his profile, that was blinking rather rapidly and shying away, "but why do you still buy this sort of food?"

Despite Tooru's sharp intellect and incredible talent at reading people, he knitted his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. He was genuinely confused, and Hanamaki blushed slightly. Refusing to show such weakness in front of him, he sat up straight, held his favourite dinner in both hands, swallowed and tried to control his ever reddening cheeks.

"I mean, you could pay for any sort of food you want, go to any restaurant... Any qualified chef would be honoured to even teach you the basics if you're so unsure, let alone asking your friends! I just don't get it..."

"Does it really matter?"

Hanamaki opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Tooru picked up his glasses on the stand beside him, and slid them on before grabbing the remote and flicking through the sci-fi section on Netflix. Hanamaki could tell he was being so simple-worded on purpose, and was waiting for him to speak next. He sighed. Tooru could be so covertly stubborn, that he could so easily pass it off as a cool display of nonchalance to anyone who didn't know any better. Damn him.

"It reminds me of the old days... before you even became my client. We were just friends back then." Hanamaki murmured.

Suddenly, he felt a weight and a soft tickling on the juncture of his neck. He was silently shocked to look down and find Tooru's head resting on him, continuing his browse of the films and tv shows that he'd seen so many times, he could actually recite them from memory.

"Don't give me that 'client' and 'just friends' nonsense," he said simply.

Takahiro couldn't stop staring at Tooru's head. From there, he could see each tuft of his wavy brown hair, smelling freshly of coconuts and pears, as well as each long eyelash  
curving up from under his heavy eyelids, his skin sparsely spattered with faint freckles.

He really was beautiful.

Hanamaki relaxed his shoulders, and embraced the feeling of Oikawa leaning against him. Together, they chose to watch Psycho Pass, an animated show they'd seen way too many times together to admit, and slurped their noodles in intense concentration. Like this, they were content. They'd make remarks at each line spoken, laugh at the most ill-chosen moments and come so close to falling off the sofa in laughter that Oikawa had held his ramen all the way up in the air to protect it, and it was all Hanamaki could see as he dangled and wriggled desperately at the edge of a starry patterned blanket. They forgot the world they lived in, and they felt like teenagers again, that night just one of their many noisy and catastrophically messy sleepovers. They were utterly comfortable with one another.

Yet Takahiro felt there was an underlying feeling about them that something was missing, and little did he know that Tooru was feeling the same emptiness somewhere deep in both their hearts. The feeling that they weren't and had never been complete.

-This ramen must be funky, Hanamaki thought.

 

*

 

Oikawa awoke in the early hours of the morning with the fading moonlight shining on Hanamaki snoring upside down on the sofa. He laughed at the image of ruffled pink hair and the atrocious sleeping position, and attempted sitting up. He had a dull ache in his shoulders, but that was to be expected after a badly thought out round of shots and truth or dare. How had that gone exactly, Oikawa began to wonder, though he wasn't overly concerned. Hanamaki knew pretty much all of Oikawa's secrets anyway. Sly bastard.

He padded over the kitchen quietly, got himself a cup of water, and went out onto the balcony. It was really quite chilly, but thankfully, in the mess of last night, Oikawa was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, including his favourite solar system sweatshirt.

Few cars were driving around at this time, though of course some were expected here in Tokyo. From Tooru's building, you could see straight to the city centre, lying a few train lines and metro stops away.The city lights were still glittering in the dull light, casting a fluorescent glow around the high buildings and many bridges. In it's own way, it was really quite breath-taking. Though it made Tooru miss Miyagi.

He sighed and leaned against the glass edge, head buried in his arms. The whole night he and Hanamaki had both been ignoring talking about the first day of filming yesterday. Oikawa had sensed that Kuroo would call him, and sure enough he had arrived home to find his manager in a towel with a freshly showered heat clinging to the air. Never failing to make himself at home, he had thought.

The filming hadn't exactly been bad, and the lack of Tooru's own company's workers had, as per his reputation, not been a problem in the slightest. In fact, the new crew had taken to him extraordinarily well, and Oikawa was sure he'd have no problems with them at all. No, Oikawa's problems lay with someone else entirely.

Iwaizumi Hajime.

God, he was so hot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit longer than before! Hope you're enjoying it :)  
> NSFW starts next chapter.... ;) I'm quite nervous actually! 
> 
> Until then! :)


	4. Desperate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe this was just Oikawa helplessly doting after his co-star again? Maybe he wasn't falling in love, and it was just this stupid routine he was so used to. Yeah, that was it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG

The next few weeks passed without harm.The first scene that Iwaizumi and Oikawa shot together went amazingly. They had connected immediately on camera. Everyone on set had celebrated so joyfully, and the pair had been showered in rounds of "Are you sure you two don't know each other?" and "Sure you're not childhood friends?". It felt good, yet also completely natural, like they really had known one another since childhood. 

Oikawa very soon fell into an easy pattern, meeting Matsukawa and Iwaizumi outside Studio one to either head in together, or get into their car to take them to their film set for the day. They talked about their scenes, their coworkers, and their jobs, never stopping the teasing or banter that flowed through their conversations. Mattsun teased Tooru and Iwaizumi for the articles written about them, and the countless blogs, art and writing dedicated to their mere eye contact, while the pair could only tease him for his caterpillar eyebrows and his current, rather solitary status.

Today, the trio sat opposite each other in their mini limousine at 4:00 in the morning. Tooru and Issei had both succumbed to their morning weaknesses and remained in their pyjamas, though by the Adidas jogging bottoms and rather shape-flattering tank top and cropped sweatshirt, you could tell that Oikawa was still trying to look the best. Iwaizumi had somehow unbelievably mustered up the strength to get dressed, though a couple of buttons were in the wrong holes and his socks didn't match. Their car ride was silent, but comfortable. One might argue it was because of their sleepiness, though.

They traveled about an hour or so deep into the countryside, and arrived in an area pleasantly suited to their battlefield sunrise scene. Upon their arrival, the three were rather surprised to see chipper looking workers already serving tea and lazing around with the set and cameras prepared behind them. Oikawa slowly blinked his heavy eyelids, and  
rubbed some sleep from his eyes as he peered out the door of the car. He stared at the driver standing by the open door with a disgruntled expression on his face, and said,

"Do you see what they put me through?"

A fraction of a second passed before Tooru felt a heavy thwack on the back of his head, and made a small choking noise at the back of his throat.

"Shut it Shittykawa, it's too early for this..." Iwaizumi mumbled as the slide past the Great King and onto the soft, dewy grass outside. Oikawa couldn't help but stare at him in that short second that their clothes brushed against each other, and Tooru could feel the heat of the actor's skin it was so close. When he had rested his hand against Oikawa's thigh oh-so-casually to get out, he felt his breath catch in his throat and his chest constrict like he was drowning. It felt overwhelmingly like panic and fear, but the way Tooru's stomach had somersaulted and how his heart was sending beats of pure excitement through each of his veins made it very hard to react so negatively. Even under his pale blue shirt, Iwaizumi's incredible muscle could be seen rippling under the fabric of it.

There were small traces of stubble layering his dark skin, and his lips had looked so plump and soft in the gentle light of the sun teetering under the edge of the horizon, and in that one moment, the light sparkled in the deep pools of his eyes. His co-worker was a sight to behold.

Oh right. 

Co-worker.

Oikawa sighed, the rush of breath he had been holding escaping him all at once. Luckily for him, Mattsun was far too out of it to notice.

He stepped out into the chilling air. This early time of November was succeeding in being as cold as scientifically possible for that month, seeing as Tooru's teeth began to chatter the moment his foot had tentatively touched the muddy earth below him. Iwaizumi smirked next to him as Mattsun used the waistband of Oikawa's bottoms to pull himself off the warm seats of their car. It hurt, Oikawa moaned, they all laughed. The usual.

After their arriving they went straight into preparation mode. The had gotten pretty used to the routine by now; Greeting the workers, getting a drink, and straight off to hair and makeup for Oikawa, and costume design for Iwaizumi. However, it never failed to surprise Tooru how familiar Iwa-chan and Bokuto were getting. They'd never worked with each other of course, but they had seemed to get along so well even with only about two hours total contact for each filming day. That damn owl, being so damn cheery and joyful like that. 

As Tooru watched the pair walk to the enormous trailers for costumes, he felt what he assumed was Akaashi's usual finger tapping at his shoulder to beckon hhim to the make-up tent.

"Yeah, okay, I'm coming, Keiji." He said. When he turned around, he was shocked to meet a startling shade of pink rather than the deep black curls he was so used to seeing. However, the most recognisable part of Tooru's manager was his smile. Whether it was hiding dark intent, or lifting your spirits high, that smile was unique to Hanamaki, and Hanamaki only. 

However, Tooru could only come out with a incomprehensible choking noise.

"Come on, Oikawa, I tried my hardest to look good this morning." He smirked, the sun behind him making the man look purely angelic. The expression soon turned to mild shock when he found his best friend's arms wrapped around his neck, and a gently sobbing face buried in the neck of his hoodie. Tooru was afraid this might be a dream; only now did he realise how much he'd missed Takahiro's presence every day they'd been apart. The air around him was sweet, and it made Tooru think of their high school days when the bubblegum menace would come to school dragging half of the sweet shop's produce in tow. It made him feel at home.

After a minute or so of well-deserved hug time, Oikawa heard Hanamaki's soft coo of reassurance he'd heard only a few times before.

"Hey, I'm here now. Let's get to the makeup tent, okay? Akaashi's waiting for us."

Tooru nodded silently, and began to stumble backwards with every one of Takahiro's small steps with his arms still wrapped around his manager's neck.

In the warmth of Akaashi's tent, Oikawa dropped his arms slightly and looked around like a lost baby, eyes red-rimmed and swollen, until he laid eyes on Akaashi making his way over with the softest of smiles. 

"Come on." They whispered and ushered the sobbing actor to his seat.

At this point, Tooru began to laugh at himself. He smiled while rubbing the tears from his eyes. This is silly, he thought, I'm making this all about me. Somewhere deep within his mind, he heard the distant scoff of an unimpressed Iwa-chan.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Hanamaki and Akaashi shared a look Oikawa couldn't recognise, but was too overwhelmed to think about. "Nekomata-san thought I could help get you in the right mood with this early morning rise being so deathly," He joked. "And he thought my distraction could be of use today."

This puzzled Oikawa.

"What do you mean, why would I need to be distrac-"

"Time for makeup!" He exclaimed, and turned back to the opening of the tent. "See you later, Tooru, come find me before briefing!" And with a wave, he was gone.

Oikawa was still staring at Hanamaki's almost visible escape outline before he whipped his head around to glare at Akaashi, all trace of weakness gone.

"Do you know what he meant?"

But if Akaashi knew one thing about dealing with people, it was how to ignore them and avoid their questions.

"I don't know about how much eyeliner they've been asking me to put on you, I feel like they're trying to make you look as feminine as possible, don't you think?" He said.

Oikawa smiled at him, as he was highly capable of seeing right through the makeup artist and one of his best friends. He turned to the mirror.

"I've got you. Go for it, Keiji."

*

After their meeting, Tooru had one scene to shoot with another very attractive actor from his company named Konoha. He was playing his deputy in the film, and also his closest friend in his company. He knew that Iwa-chan had a similar scene to shoot before their scene right before the final battle. They would be saying their goodbyes, and promising to see each other on the other side, something like that. Tooru had the lines memorised anyway. 

The sun was about a quarter of the way up over the hazy mist on the horizon. The sky was still rather dark and grey, though it was now spattered with daring streaks of sunlight that entwined themselves in the clouds. Hanamaki came to stand next to Oikawa and took a deep breath in, admiring the view before them. Their fingers brushed, and once more Oikawa felt more comfortable than any coffee trip or car ride he'd had before now. These past five weeks had been eye-opening, and he loved his friends and the new ones he'd made for being so subtly supportive, but he felt so natural. Just like when he was on screen with Iwaizumi;his lines would flow out so effortlessly, and he wouldn't need to think about reactions like he did with other partners. Even though they had lines to give, it hardly felt different to a normal conversation. He was obviously the most hard-working actor he'd worked with.

Then, as if he'd summoned him, Oikawa saw Iwaizumi jogging in his pristine soldier's uniform. It was evident that Kuroo had seen him too, because about two seconds later he called out a loud "Positions everyone! Kenma, I want camera one on that sunrise! Cameras 2 and 4 on Oikawa at the angles we discussed, 3 and 5 on Iwaizumi. Let's move!"  
Iwaizumi was only slightly out of breath while he left about 7 other crew members gasping for breath trailing behind him, yet Oikawa moved to brace him with a smile.

"Come on Iwa-chan! It's our big scene! last one before our kiss scene!" He said with a wink, watching his friend wipe his brow with a nod in return.

"Yeah," He said. "Only a couple more weeks until we'll be finished filming as well." 

"Let's make the most of it, yeah?" Oikawa replied, and led the way to the set.

Tooru waved at a red-faced Yachi who looked ready to keel over onto her clipboard before he stepped into camera one's view. He let Bokuto rush over and adjust his badges, collar and cap, and watched Iwaizumi step onto his marked space a few paces in front of him. If the morning was slowing him down, it didn't show. Oikawa was sure his makeup was covering up any trace of his lack of sleep the night before. He'd had a troubling dream involving he, Iwaizumi and some troublesome clothes gettiing between them. The events that had ensued weren't so troubling. The incredible hard on that he had woken up with at half two was though. Oh the struggles of working with attractive people! He had thought.

"Hey, wake up." He heard.

Oikawa blinked his eyes open to a stern looking Iwaizumi nodding in the director's direction. Tooru really was tired.

"Everyone ready?" Kuroo called. "Okay, take one of scene thirty... three? Ready, and action!"

A light feeling spread through Tooru as he walked towards Iwaizumi, his back straight, shoulders well back and hands behind him. He held a soft pitying look of a commanding officer to a lieutenant about to march with his troops into battle. Iwaizumi himself was staring back with the fake confidence of one.

"Today is the day, Lieutenant. I hope your troops are ready?"

Iwaizumi saluted with a firm gaze into Oikawa's eyes. He'd never experienced anything so intense.

"Yes, sir. We have been training for this our whole military career. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. We won't let you down."

Tooru could feel the mechanical glare of camera 4 on his face that in turn widened his eyes and parted his lips ever so slightly, before closing his eyes and shaking his head softly  
with a smile.

"You're a brave man, Lietenant. A braver man than most, myself included. I'd say my offer from last night still stands but..." On queue, Oikawa trailed his sentence of quietly.

"I apologise, sir. I couldn't abandon my comrades. You taught me that, sir."

Camera one whirred in focus as the two actors played out their final gaze at one another. Oikawa smiled like he was forcing himself.

"I wish you and your troops the best of luck. When you make it out of that battlefield alive and with victory, there will be a new rank awaiting you."

"I'd be honoured to accept it, sir." Iwaizumi replied with a short bow, and took a step closer, causing there to be mere inches between them. "We will see each other then."

"Indeed, Lieutenant. You've not let me down before."

Iwaizumi paused, studying the taller man's face and settling on his lips for a fraction of a second before looking up and replying, "I wouldn't dream of it, sir."

Tooru's breaths got shorter and his eyes glazed over. He felt his cheeks flush, and could almost feel Hajime's breath on his lips as his head began to fall instinctively forward...

"CUT!"

Tooru snapped back to reality. What was this feeling inside of him? This tumbling of his stomach and fluttering of his heart, the way his chest tightened so hard he felt he might suffocate, yet also feeling so free like he was breathing off his euphoric sensations. He'd never felt like this in front of anyone one before, let alone in front of a co-worker...

"We're thinking of adding something new to the script," Kuroo said, striding in with his Macbook in his hands, "Something to spice up this scene for the viewers."

Oikawa cleared his throat a little, and smirked. 

"I could give Allistair a lap dance. That'd be pretty damn spicy"

A chorus of laughs echoed around the trio standing in the grassy set of the camp. Oikawa felt his heart warm when he saw Iwaizumi's cold expression light up into the smallest of smiles toward him.

Kuroo regarded Oikawa with a chuckle in his throat and a shake of his head. Like this, void of teases or smart remarks, Kuroo had a truly kind face.

"Unfortunate as it may be, we were thinking of just moving the first kiss here, and making the original into a final, breathtaking, desperate sort of kiss. I was hesitant, but the way you just acted out the scene made me confident. Think you can handle it?" 

Oikawa's mouth hung slightly. A kiss scene today? What if he messed up? Oh god, please say his breath didn't reek of that milkshake he'd bought. If he had to kiss Iwa-chan tasting of shitty energy drinks-

"Let's do it." said Iwaizumi.

Tooru couldn't help staring wide-eyed at Iwaizumi. What was Iwa-chan thinking? Wasn't he feeling this incredible anxiety around him? How could he just snap out of a moment like that?

"Hey, it's sudden, but I think we can pull it off." Iwaizumi said, but Tooru could only focus on the wide, sturdy hand resting under his elbow. He felt a sudden, irresistible desire to  
step forward, step closer. He closed his eyes for a second, and looked at Kuroo instead. 

"Yeah, sure! Let's do it, Iwa-chan!" He shouted.

They turned back to their positions, and Oikawa could feel his heart trying to leap out of his throat. Why couldn't he get rid of his damn nerves?! He took a deep breath. And another. He closed his eyes until he couldn't sense anything outside of himself, only his own shaky breathing, getting steadier and steadier as the milliseconds passed. On the word "Action!", Tooru opened his eyes slowly to the view of Iwaizumi, eyes lidded, lips parted, and close enough to see a small scar slice up his right eyebrow. They were so close, and Iwaizumi's breath smelled of fresh mint...

"CUT!"

"WHAT NOW?!" 

Everyone, even Oikawa was slightly taken aback by the shout. It took him a few seconds to fully comprehend that he had shouted it.

"Um..." Kuroo started as Tooru buried his face in his hands. "That was super good, but it didn't feel exactly right. Maybe a different kind of kiss?"

Oh great, let's explore all the ways Iwa-chan and I could possibly suck face.

"Maybe something a little bit more rushed? I mean, we might be playing westerners, but even during the war, homosexuality was highly frowned upon. They'd probably just be realising how dangerous these feelings are, so they wouldn't want to be caught, or they've been holding it in their feelings so long because of it. I think Oliver and Allistair would be as desperate as possible to touch one another before the signal goes to prepare for battle." 

Oikawa stared as Kuroo nodded enthusiastically at Iwaizumi's suggestion.

"Perfect, let's try it! Let's get ready to roll guys!" And with a bruising slap on the shoulder to Oikawa, their director-in-training rushed off back to Nekomata-sensei, happily sipping his coffee.

Oikawa couldn't believe this. Everyone became silent. Iwaizumi looked at him blankly. Camera one whirred in front of them. Kuroo shouted, "Action!"

Tooru scoffed, "You little shit." And grabbed Iwaizumi by the scruff of his collar, smashing their lips together hard. He seemed genuinely surprised, but their messy and brash kiss soon turned smooth and hot, gasping for breath when Tooru slid his tongue tauntingly against Hajime's lip, who quickly complied in opening his warm mouth for him.  
He slid his hand into the soft spikes of Iwaizumi's hair to pull his head further back in order to explore his mouth fully. As Tooru slid his tongue slowly against the roof of Hajime's mouth, he caught a muffled moan from the actor, who reached up to cling to his neck. The Great King forgot all time and space, and could only sense the warm pants of the stunning man before him. Each brush of skin, glide of tongues, pull of hair was theirs, and theirs alone. When they felt they might suffocate from lack of oxygen, they broke apart suddenly, and leaned their foreheads together. Tooru felt Iwaizumi intertwine their fingers and pull his own over those dark pink lips. They slid over each knuckle and over every new expanse of pale skin. He couldn't help but watch.

"Aaaaaaaand CUT!" 

The two broke apart, and locked eyes. It might have just been the moment, but Tooru could have sworn he saw the look of lust and want linger in Iwa-chan's eyes.

Nekomata stood up from his chair, and both of the actors turned their heads to watch him hobble over to them as they stood frozen, still gasping for breath. When he arrived in front of them, he smiled kindly.

"Well done you two. That was perfect. You make quite a team."

With those words of praise, the team's spirits lifted so high, and with the light of the sun finally lifting above the earth and into the pale blue sky, they all rushed in to hug the pair of them and cheer. Hanamaki was the first to reach Oikawa.

"That was incredible!" He shouted with a kiss to Tooru's cheek. Matsukawa was next, wrapping the three of them in his long arms. After being joined by Bokuto, Akaashi, Kuroo,  
Kenma, Yachi, and the rest of the team there that morning, Tooru was the happiest he had felt yet. This film was going to be amazing.

*

Tooru shut the door behind him, and rested with his back against it. Nekomata and Irihata-san had sent everyone home after such a good morning, and Oikawa was truly grateful. His limbs were numb with sleepiness, and it dawned upon him that it was now 11:00 AM, and he hadn't had anything to eat. But honestly, getting to his bed was all that he felt capable of doing right then.

He slipped his shoes off and slid his jacket off of his weary shoulders, letting it drop to the floor with a soft thud. It wasn't long before he found himself in his collapsed on his bed.

He thought over the events of the morning as he stared at his star spattered ceiling. He thought about Iwaizumi.

He thought about those deep brown eyes, and his dark caramel skin, each black, curved eyelash, how soft and thick his hair had felt in his grasp. No, Allistair. That wasn't Iwaizumi, that much was obvious. He had seemed so unfazed by the whole scene...

Maybe this was just Oikawa helplessly doting after his co-star again? Maybe he wasn't falling in love, and it was just this stupid routine he was so used to. Yeah, that was it.

Thought that didn't stop him remembering the way their eyes had met after the kiss; eyes still hazed with want, Tooru had felt ready to let Iwaizumi ravish him.

The thought of that look alone sent a warm rush to Tooru's lower belly.

Tooru thought of Iwaizumi. His eyes, his lips, his arms, his shoulders, his laugh, his smile, his thighs... it made The Great King's cheeks tinge pink. All of a sudden he felt so hot, sticking to his vest, boiling in his jogging bottoms and suffocating in his damn sweatshirt. He imagined Iwaizumi's warm hand gliding over his skin, lifting his top over his head and kissing each stretch of skin revealed with those pillow soft lips. He imagined each kiss getting lower and lower as Tooru hand slid down past his navel and teetered above his waistband. His erection was painful at this point, so with one more image of that look in Iwa-chan's eyes, his hand slid under the fabric and wrapped around his throbbing length.

The feeling was utter relief. Tooru let out a long sigh, and gasped and he began to slide his palm through the layer of pre-cum that had spilled from his sensitive tip. If Iwaizumi was doing this, he'd probably tease Oikawa to pieces, leaving him a begging mess on his own bed as he stood above watching The Great King's facade crumble into in incoherent pleas. That look he'd seen today, Tooru morphed into a look of power and dominance as he gazed into Tooru's lusting eyes. He was biting his lip so hard he tasted the metallic taste of his blood, and he was sure his knuckles were white by the force he was grabbing his bedsheets with. He quickened his pace, flicking his wrist and causing him to gasp and arch his back at the new sensation.

It wasn't enough to imagine the feel of Iwaizumi's hands and lips anymore. Tooru visualised how he'd look with Tooru's hand lifting his shirt up, skin on skin and he carressed those beautiful shoulders and straddled his thick thighs. What would it feel like for Iwaizumi to stretch him out, pumping him mercilessly with his long, thick fingers until he was ready to be filled completely with Hajime's warm, hard cock. What would it be like for their bodies to be so close, and for Iwa-chan to pleasure him, whispering his name as he did so.

"Tooru."

With a loud, high moan, Oikawa tensed all over and uncoiled, coming in spurts across his stomach, gasping the name "Iwa-chan". With his body coated in a light sheen of sweat, he kicked off his filthy bottoms and headed wearily to his bathroom in only his cropped sweatshirt to clean himself up.

Well that's new, he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow nsfw is hard  
> i really hope this was enjoyable! pls leave comments or message me on tumblr/twitter, I'd love to hear from you!
> 
> -narwhals


	5. Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in the company of his closest friend, he was still so alone.
> 
> So alone he ached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM AN AWFUL WRITER I AM SO SORRY
> 
> PLS ENJOY LOTS OF IWA CHAN

Huddled with his chin resting heavily on his bare knees, Oikawa stared wide-eyed at the wide screen of his television. His breaths were steady, even, and barely audible; an irrelevant distraction from his concentration. His earthy brown framed glasses rested high on his nose as he observed a film starring none other than Iwaizumi Hajime.

Since that scene in those misty fields basked in the light of the rising sun, and heated by the warmth of he and Iwaizumi's desperate kiss, Tooru had promptly avoided any of his team's calls and texts, and wasn't planning on leaving his sofa for the rest of his natural born life. Even the memory of the kiss sent burning flares of heat to Tooru's cheeks. But it had only been three days, so he wasn't being bombarded with distressed messages from his friends just yet. And he wouldn't be needed for filming for another week, which was he thought was lucky, and was extremely thankful for. He needed a break.

What was this film called again? Oikawa couldn't remember. It was just one of the dozens of dvds stacked upon the coffee table in front of him, ordered top to bottom in chronological order. So far he had watched... 14. There was still plenty to go, but it wasn't like he was headed anywhere. He couldn't abandon his fortress of solitude, undeniable geekiness and emotional and sexual frustration. 

Tooru could almost hear Iwa-chan's unimpressed sigh.

He himself let out a long breath. It felt as if he'd been holding his breath, yet it also felt like he was still struggling to breathe. His chest felt heavy, and he closed his eyes with a grimace. He picked up the remote, paused the film, and sat up properly. His right knee was stiff and it ached as he tried to stand, but it wasn't like his old volleyball injury was a new experience. It was simple; he'd wanted to be the best, trained harder than everyone, been better than everyone, yet when he had pushed himself too hard, there'd been no one to stop him. No one to lift up his team. No one to support Tooru. No one to soothe him as salty tears burned their way down his sweaty red cheeks at their final loss. Hanamaki had been there, of course. But Takahiro's passive nature had rendered him unable to comprehend Tooru's struggle fully, so even in the company of his closest friend, he was still so alone.

So alone he ached.

He headed to the bathroom, and when confronted with the three mirror panels above his sink, Oikawa saw his pale skin, now looking less elegant and more sickly than usual. The lilac bags under his eyes he had for so long attempted to get rid of were darker and more visible under his drooping eyelids. With a self-pitying smile, he splashed some water on his face, and headed straight for his bedroom. At this point, he was too tired to even eat food, let alone prepare it. With a final glance at the moon glowing behind the clouds in the ink black sky, Tooru slipped under his enormous duvet, and closed his eyes. Sometimes two all-nighters in a row were just too much.

 

*

 

Though the pair were unaware of it, both Oikawa and Iwaizumi were in similar moods. Currently, Iwaizumi sat in Matsukawa's office, staring straight past the pages of his book. His legs were crossed, and if one were to walk past and glance in, they'd most definitely consider him to look rather comfortable. But in reality, Iwaizumi's head was throbbing, his chest ached, and he felt hot and bothered even in his straight legged jeans and plain white shirt, his most casual outfit for work. The waist itched him, and the cotton of the button-up clung to him uncomfortably. He knew there was no need for him to be there, but he needed to distract himself, because he knew that the second he went home, he'd think about Oikawa.

Damn it.

Finally shutting his book, having not yet read a single page, Iwaizumi shut his eyes and let his thoughts drift to his co-star, and certainly not for the first time since they had met in person. Blurred images of soft, bouncing hair and spirit-lifting smiles flashed through Iwaizumi's head, and the longer he let these images in, the more detailed and ...creative they got. He could see the flush of his cheeks that he often hid, the freckles dotted on his nose he covered with his fake glasses, and his eyelashes, so long and graceful and curved, catching sunlight and casting gentle shadows on his cheekbones. Suddenly, images of his jaw-dropping figure clouded Iwaizumi''s thoughts as he recalled those long and heavenly shaped legs that led to the edge of his hips and the slim curve of his waist, hidden tantalisingly under layers of t-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. But most of all, Iwaizumi liked to recall Oikawa's hands. Long, thin fingers littered with remnants of bruises, even scars, with uneven fingernails that he'd obviously chewed incessantly on a regular basis. His knuckles were sharp, and his wrist small and angular. Such specific observations would be lost on passers-by, because they'd consider them too small and insignificant to take notice. But when he thought of Oikawa, and how Oikawa would probably think of himself, he smiled when he imagined Tooru considering his hands the least perfect part of himself, when to him, they were necessary to completing the whole image. The bitter part of Iwaizumi told him it was so there'd be at least one thing he could think badly of Oikawa's appearance, but he knew it wasn't true.

 

He thought of those hands some more; what they might feel like, perhaps how Oikawa's fingers might twist to interlock with his own, gliding over his face, his neck, all over him. Even the lightest brush of his fingertips...

 

"Hey daydreamer, still here?"

Matsukawa, once again with his suit jacket hung over his shoulder, checked his silver watch and raised a thick eyebrow at Iwaizumi's slumped figure, who sighed and rubbed at his temples slowly.

"Yeah, not working is actually draining me more than filming. It's like I'm constantly restless, for some reason."

Mattsun strolled past with a smile. "How about that..." He said.

Iwaizumi blinked at his back, busy shuffling some papers and putting them in his briefcase.

"Well, it's not like I've got anything else to do. Our break isn't long enough to go anywhere and there isn't anything or anyone special to come home to..." Hajime mumbled, burying his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders. At these words, Mattsun turned his torso from the desk with an incredulous look on his face, his hands stilling around his files. For a couple of seconds they regarded one another in a calculating silence. Iwaizumi's mouth dried under the piercing gaze of the giant before him. When he felt he couldn't breathe, he watched Issei sigh, and Hajime let all the air rush out of his lungs. But Mattsun was grabbing his keys and scarf, and was suddenly at the door looking expectantly at Iwaizumi.

"Come on, we're going out. I feel like some fresh air."

Iwaizumi was a bit shocked, and the feeling followed him as he stumbled slightly out of the doorway and followed Mattsun to the elevator, where he turned around, eyebrow raised, and said,

"Shut your mouth, dear, don't want you catching flies."

Iwaizumi shut his mouth in one rapid movement, and punched Mattsun on the shoulder. But they both laughed as the gleaming silver doors closed in front of them.

"So where are we headed exactly?" He asked. Mattsun didn't even tilt his head to look at him when he replied,

"I thought we might grab a drink somewhere. You look like you might be in need of a... refreshment."

Ah. Bar it is.

 

*

 

The air was cooler than Iwaizumi had been expecting, but the warm haze of dim amber lights against varnished black surfaces instantly eased the tension he'd balled up in his shoulders. He breathed in the scent of vanilla mixed with a sharp smell of lemons and lime from the cocktails in some people's hands and those being prepared behind the bar. Rows of booths lined the dark panelled walls, and several tables littered the wooden floor with a large open space in the middle for dancing. But at nine forty on a Wednesday night, the place was empty, spare the odd couples and singles spread out in the Alley Cat bar. 

The place was owned, in fact, by Oikawa's company. They had a few investments in different fields to support extra projects and things like that. At least, that was all Iwaizumi knew of. But he knew this wasn't the only one they owned.

Feeling less shaky now than before, Iwaizumi led the way through a crowd of people, some dancing to the steady beat playing low on the speakers, and straight to the bar, where he ordered a gin and tonic for Matsukawa, a whiskey for himself, and some sake for the table at the booth they chose near the back of the establishment; a good view of the whole room yet closed off enough to have some privacy.

They sat, the leather cushion wheezing and caving under them, and Iwaizumi sighed. If he couldn't find a way to relax even now, he doubted he would before filming started again. He took a slow sip of his whiskey, and the warm, burning trail it left down his throat pleased him, like it gave him strength. He opened his eyes slightly to see his best friend smiling gently at him. It was rare to see such a genuine expression on Issei's face.

Iwaizumi swirled the deep brown liquid in his glass, and said, with curiosity,

"New bar, I see. What's with the change of venue?"

Matsukawa blinked, and look past Iwaizumi to glance around the rest of the bar. No emotion flickered in his eyes,just the sense that he was thinking behind that stone-faced expression. When his best friend's gaze reached Iwiazumi's, it was suddenly filled with a smile again, and Iwa was slightly startled. He almost felt nervous.

"New partnerships means new opportunities. We've not branched out an awful lot, our company, which is part of why we've been so successful, but it also means we don't have as many connections as other companies do. This project with Nekomata-san will open the doors to a new era for us, you'll see."

Iwaizumi felt a heavy, sinking feeling in his chest, and groaned.

"Oh, please don't tell me you just dragged me here to become familiar with the workers here?"

"Honestly, Iwaizumi, you take all the fun out of my big reveals. Come on, finish your drink and let's head to the bar; we've got business to handle." And with that, he downed his drink, stood up, and left.

Bastard.

But as Iwaizumi stood up to follow his manager, he turned and saw the door open, with Oikawa Tooru standing in the bracing stream of light. It was warm enough to overcome the chilling breeze from outside, and even with his mere presence far away, Hajime was reminded of the warm feelings Oikawa brought him. Though it was barely enough for him to notice at the time. Standing like that in the light, both sunshine and shadows encircling him, Oikawa looked almost effervescent in the heavenly glow, even in his worn looking hoodie and battered hi-tops. In fact, despite the way the man seemed to constantly coordinate his outfits to perfection with his ratio of casual and smart, this must have been the first time Iwaizumi had seen him look so... off guard. It was so fascinating that he had completely forgotten about where he was, or what he was supposed to be doing.

Iwa blinked, found his mouth open, and shut it, quickly making his way to Mattsun at the bar, who was already perched atop a stool and leaning heavily on the marble black surface across from a good-looking female bartender. As soon as he reached him, he rapidly tapped him on the shoulder, and whispered harshly in his ear,

"Look who's here!"

Matsukawa looked to the door, where Oikawa was standing, tall, graceful and looking awfully bored, waiting for some people coming through the door. No one Iwaizumi recognised anyway. He thought friend's eyes might have widened briefly, but as quick as it had passed he was replying,

"You say that as if you run in completely different circles. Look! My co-star that I've been working with for two months just walked into the bar in the same city that we both work in, that his company also owns! My goodness!"

Iwaizumi frowned.

"I've never said 'My goodness!' before in my life."

Mattsun sighed, and turned a little more to face his dense brick of a friend.

"Is he why you've been sulking so much these past few days?"

Iwaizumi was speechless. What sort of suggestion was that? Why on earth would he be sulking over any co-star, let alone Oikawa. He was the single most renowned bachelor in the acting profession, and probably rising in the charts of all celebrities! There's no way he'd want to get mixed up with him. He wasn't even sure if he was willing to be friends with the the guy. He had no idea what kind of person he was apart from their conversations at work, usually discussing the film or any of their previous works, which revealed surprisingly little about the legend himself. When Iwaizumi looked back, it seemed that Oikawa had this incredible talent to make easy and natural conversation instantly, filling any and all gaps of silence or hesitation with a teasing remark, an input of opinion, a recent news story; techniques so simple it was hard to recognise them as anything other than being merely charismatic. Though there was no denying the guy had plenty of that as well.

But no. There was no way Oikawa Tooru was causing him any mental anguish at all. He wasn't even on his mind apart from strictly work related situations. What was Mattsun talking about...?

"Iwaizumi? You there, man?"

"Yeah. No! No he's not. I've not been sulking, idiot. You need glasses."

Mattsun laughed, head tipping back and leaning on two legs of his stool. He laughed so hard he almost fell off. Iwaizumi felt so pissed he almost pushed him off.

"Well anyways, we may as well say hi. Who are the people with him?"

The pair looked with interest at the party of five that stood smiling and laughing near the door. They were shrugging off coats and tidying their hair, and with the exception of Oikawa, who still stood out brightly in the dim lights, they looked to be a perfectly normal group. Though, if they knew Oikawa, there was a high chance they weren't totally ordinary.

One of them, Iwaizumi was sure he'd seen. The guy was sort of tall, with a wider build than Oikawa, but not as muscular, with bubblegum pink hair that actually suited him, with a slender face and rather hazy, seductive eyes. It certainly matched his crazy outfit of emerald pinstriped trousers, ankle Dr. Martens, what looked like an oversized basketball shirt and pink blazer. The other three. But on a second glance, he saw Yachi, a set designer from the film. She was usually at the filming sets to make sure everything was in place and worked with the lighting and the cameras. Usually he'd have been surprised to see her with such a large group of people, but upon recognising Oikawa and Hanamaki, and taking a glance at a silver-haired guy with an angelic face and some stocky, brown haired guy beside him, he understood that they were probably a very accepting group, probably very kind and supportive of her.

"I hope you're ready, Yachi, I'm gonna drink this place dry!"

With that exclamation from Hanamaki and his raised fists, Iwaizumi felt almost embarrassed, but for the most part just laughed alongside Matsukawa.

But it wasn't long before they were spotted, this time not by Oikawa, who seemed busy sulking into his phone and avoiding all eye-contact, but by Hanamaki himself, who's eyes widened as he bounced his way to the pair by the bar.

"No way!" He said, voice laced thickly with surprise, "I can't believe you guys are here!"

"Why? Want us to leave?" Matsukawa stood, and smirked. Hanamaki smirked back, lidding his eyes over in a way that seemed well-practiced, but never any less effective.

"I'm just surprised, that's all. Didn't dream that you big shots would grace our quaint little bar with your royal presence."

With their bantering, Iwaizumi felt a little third-wheel-ish, standing next to his manager with his hands in his pockets. But soon the silver-haired angel had smiled his way over to them, and stood right between the pair.

"Come on now, Hanamaki, is this the way we Japanese greet people? You've not even met them before and you're already breaking out the salt?"

His voice had sounded so sweet and pure, but there was a malicious look in his eyes that made his instincts burn to get away. But it was certainly effective as the pair shut up like kids being warned by their mother. It made Iwaizumi smile, and soon, the guy had turned to him with a much kinder and even apologetic look in his eyes.

"Please excuse him. He has this condition of being eternally nine years old."

"Oi! I'm way more dirty minded than a nine year old."

The angel looked horrified. He visibly shuddered away from Hanamaki and said,

"You must be Iwaizumi-san. I'm Sugawara Koushi, a marketing director for Oikawa-san's company. This is my boss, Sawamura Daichi," The brown haired guy waved, and up close he was... definitely more attractive. "You've met Yachi and Oikawa of course, and this lovely ball of snarky remarks and disdain is Hanamaki Takahiro, the manager of The Great King. It's an honour to meet you." He said, and bowed a little at the end. He tried to shoo away warmth that Iwa could feel at his cheeks as he replied,

"Iwaizumi is fine, no need to be so formal. Nice to meet you all too." He hadn't noticed, but Oikawa was no looking at him, lips closed but tight, and eyes slightly wide. There was a flutter in Iwaizumi's chest, and a catch in his throat. It was a good thing Matsukawa was introducing himself to the rest of the group, because he was sure he wouldn't be able to produce any words right then. He quickly averted his gaze, and tried to control his rapidly increasing breaths. What was wrong with him? "Drinks on me." Came Sawamura's deep voice, followed by a round of enthusiastic cheers and Yachi's nervous giggles. Iwaizumi was desperate for Matsukawa, but he was still busy talking about God knows what with Hanamaki, Sawamura stifling laughs beside them. The two looked ready to either kill each other, make out, or engage in the most terrifying of thumb wrestles. Huh. Thumb wrestle it is. He heard a light clink on the surface in front of him, and he turned to see silv- Sugawara's smile only a few inches from his face. It was a shot, but it looked suspicious so Iwaizumi held off of taking it at the time. He merely smiled back, and sat on the stool closest to him. Behind the man, he could see Yachi holding Oikawa's arm, looking slightly concerned. But his co-star stepped away from her, and shook his head with a wide, closed-eye smile he hadn't seen on his face before. "What are you two doing here?" Sugawara asked. Blinking back to the man in front of him, Iwaizumi almost faltered in his sentence looking at him. It wasn't that Sugawara was hot, exactly, but he really was... pretty. It reminded him of Oikawa's friend Akaashi, both with gently curved jaws, long eyelashes, straight noses and smooth, soft looking skin. Though of course very opposite personalities at first thought. "Mattsun dragged me here to check out your branches. Wanted to mingle with workers of the company, I assume." "Well, he certainly did a good job of finding some!" Sugawara laughed. "And Oikawa Tooru, nonetheless! Not gotten sick of his face everyday yet?" He winked.

Iwaizumi kept his gaze fixed on his whiskey glass and smiled.

"No, I haven't."

There was a small silence in which Iwaizumi could feel Sugawara's gaze linger on his face. The silence was thick with anticipation.

"When did the two of you become friends?" He asked instead.

Sugawara hesitated in his answer, as if unsure if he was willing to accept the change of topic, but quickly took a sip of his mojito and stared thoughtfully at the long mirror behind the bar.

"Since college. It's been a few years now, but somehow we've pulled it together. I've no shame in telling you we weren't friends at first though. But I'm sure that doesn't come as much of a surprise, huh?"

Iwaizumi chuckled a little. It was true; it was hard to imagine Oikawa in all his pretentious glory approaching this sweet and pure guardian angel without creating some sort of conflict between them. 

"We talked about it once, years later, and it turns out we were sort of jealous of each other. He was immensely talented and everyone flocked to him like he was an actual star, while I managed to keep strong friendships and found it difficult to be noticeable to others. It's so silly to look back on now." Sugawara Koushi laughed quietly, almost sadly.

Iwaizumi's smile was gone now.

"That sounds lonely for him." He said quietly.

"I think it was. It didn't last long though. After the first year we were forced to do a group project together in our astronomy class, and while we were out at night trying to find constellations, I slipped and hurt my weak hip. He carried me back to his apartment and looked after me like my well being was the most important thing to him. I'd never seen him so concerned for someone else."

At this, Iwaizumi frowned.

"Did you two...?"

Sugawara's eyes widened and his pink lips split into a stunned smile.

"Oh goodness, no! No, no, no, never. Well, not that I wouldn't exactly, but that's gross. He's basically my brother. Ew. No." He even shuddered for dramatic effect.

They spoke for a while, told each other about their jobs, found out they were both from Miyagi, and wow, you played volleyball too? Where did you play, and so on. Eventually, Matsukawa and Hanamaki stopped bickering and came over. Iwaizumi couldn't see where Oikawa was, but soon enough, as Hanamaki was so drunk he was ready to challenge Iwaizumi to an arm wrestle, Oikawa appeared, with a daring smile and dark look in his eyes.

"Oh, Makki, I'd love to see you try."

Iwaizumi gulped. When did he get here?

"You're gonna regret that, Mr. Angel face Tooru. I bet you 3000 yen I can beat this wimp."

Oh now it was personal.

"Wimp, huh?" Iwaizumi snarled. Something wild and savage took over him as he kicked back his stool and took Hanamaki by the collar.

"It's on, bubblegum."

They sat opposite each other at a nearby table. The commotion had even attracted some strangers hanging near the bar, but in the dim lights and the fact they were drunk and arm wrestling may have helped them keep their identities on the down-low. Mattsun had arrived to referee (what an idiot), and even Sawamura was jumping with excitement. But the most excited by far was Oikawa.

He was sitting on a chair near Hanamaki, but his eyes flickered everywhere, all over Iwaizumi, over his arms, right to where the two's hands connected, over Hanamaki and back again. His eyes were sparkling, and he bit his lower lip in between his teeth in a way that made Iwaizumi sure he wasn't aware of what he was doing. He was even wringing his hands in the suspense.

Hanamaki was shuffling, obviously pissed as hell and almost falling off of his chair about three times while still licking his lips and glaring at him with utter spite and confidence. Matsukawa stood tall, held his arms out to silence everyone. Every breath was held.

He put his hands over Hanamaki's and Iwaizumi's, who glared at each other menacingly over the metre of space between them. 

"Ready?"

They nodded.

"GO!"

Iwaizumi won in two seconds.

Everyone burst into shouts and cheers as Hanamaki actually screamed and crumpled in his chair. But all Hajime could see or hear was the pure joy that took over Oikawa's face and the shout and laughs that tumbled out of his perfectly smooth lips.

"Iwa-chan!!!!"

He felt himself smiling ear to ear before Matsukawa dragged him up into a sloppy and stumbling hug, followed by Oikawa, Sugawara, Daichi and Yachi. He was so close he could smell the faint scent of mint and lavender on his skin. It was intoxicating.

The rest of their evening consisted of shots, jokes, unnecessary closeness and lingering touches. In fact, when Iwaizumi woke up in Matsukawa's apartment the next morning still clothed accompanied by a pounding headache, he could hardly remember anything past that first wrestle. Had there been any others? He couldn't remember. And by the look of Mattsun sprawled out on his beige armchair with devil horns and a curly moustache drawn shakily on his face in black pen, there was a high chance he wasn't going to remember much either. Iwaizumi dismissed the thought, and stumbled blindly to the bathroom, squinting slightly at the light reflecting in the wall length mirror where he saw a purple mark blossoming vividly on the deep juncture of his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeez louise that took ages.
> 
> okayyy~ tell me what you guys think of what we should have next chapter! always nice to hear your input! :)
> 
> -narwhals

**Author's Note:**

> Okayy! I feel like this one might be kinda short...? but I'm not really sure on a wordcount for future reference... or chapters for that matter... eheh
> 
> But more character development to come! Oikawa was just a bit too angry to show some real personality here haha ;) But we got a glimpse of our hunky Iwa too ! So nervous about doing well in his new film~
> 
> I'll not be too long with the next one, I hope, but follow me on tumblr and twitter at narwhalscanttalk if you want to message me or anything, and also follow http://yamayama--kun.tumblr.com/ , whom I got this au from :)
> 
> thanks for reading :)


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